The first V was a great device, and with the V Pen it lends itself for note-taking and art. But there’s always room for improvement, and we’ve heard plenty of feedback from the community, through support, and from surveys, telling us exactly what we need to improve to make our pen and touch experience really shine!

We want to improve the touch experience. That includes reducing ghost touches (where the device registers touch when there is none) and improving palm rejection (the device not responding to your palm when you use the pen).

But it also means we will try to increase precision and user comfort with the pen. A greater hover height means the screen registers the pen’s presence earlier, giving you a better indication of where your cursor will land and reminding palm rejection to kick in. Lower latency, less jitter and higher accuracy at the edges of the screen, mean that you put down lines exactly where you want them. And tilt support allows artists to go wild with digital brushes that simulate real ones more closely.

Of course, all these improvements require some updates to the hardware, and that’s where Wacom comes in. Wacom has been around since 1983, and specializes in pen input technology. For years they have been the market leader in the field of digital artist pen tablets, and the gold standard by which other companies are measured.

We intend to use their Active Electrostatic (AES) 2.0 technology for our new V, using a Wacom-made touch controller chip. This means we get optimal performance, tuning, and support, from the world’s leading experts in pen input. This may also allow us to use Wacom’s software utilities to tune things like the pen pressure curve or button assignments, another oft-heard request.

This technology is different from the N-trig pen solution we used in the original V, and that means the existing V Pen or Surface pens will not work with our new device. There are, however, a great number of AES-compatible pens out there, both from Wacom and from third parties. So even if our new V Pen isn’t exactly what you were looking for, you can find one with a different size, shape or weight to suit your needs. Because the new pen can support multiple pen protocols, the new V Pen should work with the old V.

Ideally, we would keep backwards compatibility whenever possible. But in this case, we feel that the improvements to accuracy, reliability, and the overall user experience, outweigh being able to use an old pen on a new tablet.

We’ve already seen many images and videos from artists who used the V as their virtual canvas. By teaming up with Wacom to bring an even better pen and touch experience to the second-generation V, we hope to see even more amazing art!

The shift to AES 2.0 technology and several coordinated fixes are excellent as they guarantee a quality touch experience of the new V.

I wonder if it helps to bring the device price down by offering the option to exclude the V Pen in the new V’s purchase for buyers who do not need a pen / own a compatible alternative. Similar to the choice to eliminate the Spectrum stand when reserving a Spectrum monitor, it could be a welcome feature.

Great news! I love that the new V will have an improved stylus. I’m glad the new pen will have better accuracy, tilt support, and better palm rejection with Wacom AES technology. I would also like to see a flat side of the pen and much stronger magnets on the new V for storing the pen when not in use.

This is really great to hear! Pen input was one aspect that I felt the new new V could really improve on, I always felt the experience to be lacking compared to my iPad Pro.
Personally, the areas I’d like to see upgrades in are:

Better palm rejection (seems like AES 2.0 should address this)

Button reliability improvements (the old V pen would sometimes not register when I clicked the button to switch to eraser mode)

More tip options with different resistance levels

Better charging solution (the iPad has really spoiled me in this regard, I don’t think I will like a new pen which requires AAAA battery replacement again. Maybe a similar magnetic charging mechanism?)

Stronger magnets to store the pen (again, I just fell the magnets on the iPad are just a stronger, whereas, on my V, the pen will fall off at the slightest of movements)

Slightly lower latency (I feel anything below 20ms should be pretty good. Not sure if it is possible to achieve that without a Bluetooth connection like that on the iPad? )

I am very excited to bring my refined Front & Keyboard design to you! v1.5
(Please click the picture and view in full size to solve the blurry issue.)
[image]
Update Highlights:
100% freshly sliced bread-style keyboard – one of the best friends of toasters;
Add power & volume buttons as well as port placement;
Label dimensions of essential parts;
Improve colouring and sharpness.
As always please hit the button if you like my design, and let me kno…

Slightly extended keyboard side & strong magnet reduce the chance to disconnect the V Pen when taking it out from a backpack. A design like the iPad Pro 3rd & 4th Gen connecting the Apple Pencil to its side is prey to dropping the pen in this situation.

The thickness of the display unit shields the V Pen, which eliminates the requirement of a protective back cover like that of the Galaxy Tab S6.

This design has zero disruption to the (metal) edge of the new V. There is no need to insert a plastic area into the metal frame, which otherwise may lead to easy bending (iPad Pro 3rd & 4th Gen).

My first reaction to having the flat side, like on the surface/iPad Pro was ‘I would love that’. Then I thought ergonomics are more important and the V Pen I have now just lays next to the V and it is no big problem. The feature that would convince me of the flat side would be, that it also charges when connected to the device like that. Also button placement and feel has to still be good.

I don’t know if we should get into specifics here already. But I really really love the ‘eraser’ on the back of the surface pen, and would love to see it on the new V Pen. For me it was always a more intuitive solution. The buttons I would never find blindly, or it took a while to turn the pen in the right position first.
If you have a better solution or an idea on how to improve the buttons on the side I am always open to having my mind changed, but for now the ‘eraser’ seems like the best solution for me.

Flat sides are just naturally assumed to be not ergonomic because that’s nothing like the pens we are used to using. However, if we take a step sideways, and look at what most pencils look like, they all have flat sides and are just so much more comfortable to hold and use. I initially thought the iPad Pro’s Apple Pencil 2 will be really awkward to use coz honestly when was the last time we used flat pens, right? But after using the iPad exclusively for over 6 months now, when I had to pick up my normal pen for an exam, holding that just felt super weird and fatiguing.

I am not a fan of storing the pen at the bottom of the keyboard. I have no idea the depth of the keyboard concept you proposed but that would interfere with my usage of the track pad if the pen was stored there. There is a reason why Microsoft has put the pen above the keyboard.

Also if we can actually fit a pen down there, I’d rather have a larger track pad than having pen storage at the bottom. Type-cover like keyboards tend to have small trackpads.

Even if we were to follow your proposed dimensions of the trackpad in your concept, I’d still prefer a larger one that encompasses the space where you put the pen at the bottom.

I don’t see the use case for having a wireless charging coil in the bottom of the keyboard area. I certainly wouldn’t be charging any of my devices on it. That includes my wireless IEM’s which I suspect the reason why samsung has put something similar to their trackpads on their laptops. It would be (to me) ergonomically unviable and I wouldn’t buy it.

The bending problem with the iPad’s was also because of how thin the devices were. Given that the new Eve will be using full sized USB-A ports, I don’t think that would be a problem and with the kickstand it should be somewhat reinforced structurally. Again, I could be wrong; Aluminum is more malleable than other elements.

Last note: What’s up with the cursive font? It makes it much harder for me to read stuff.

I have no idea the depth of the keyboard concept you proposed but that would interfere with my usage of the track pad if the pen was stored there.

The V Pen sits on the keyboard with a depth of 5mm, which allows a low-profile & lightweight keyboard design compared with integrating a pen shape into the keyboard (like the Surface Pro). A user may remove the V Pen when using the keyboard. Meanwhile, other advantages of this design stated in my previous post still apply.

arkery:

I’d rather have a larger track pad than having pen storage at the bottom.

Extend the height of keyboard compartment beyond the display unit purely for a whopping trackpad might not worth the added bulkiness and losing the visually pleasing aesthetic.

arkery:

I don’t see the use case for having a wireless charging coil in the bottom of the keyboard area.

Many earbuds and smartphones offer wireless charging support. It could be an excellent idea to bring one less cable and use the V to charge the mentioned devices on the go.

I have no idea the depth of the keyboard concept you proposed but that would interfere with my usage of the track pad if the pen was stored there.

The V Pen sits on the keyboard with a depth of 5mm, which allows a low-profile & lightweight keyboard design compared with integrating a pen shape into the keyboard (like the Surface Pro). A user may remove the V Pen when using the keyboard. Meanwhile, other advantages of this design stated in my previous post still apply.

Despite that I like the look of a pen on the bottom, I will agree with @arkery.
Having a placement on the bottom will not be practical except if you are transporting the tablet.

In most cases, you will attach the keyboard because you need to type and in order to type, you need to remove the pen and then… where you store the pen? next to you? then you forget the pen most probably on a counter in a coffee shop.

I think the pen must be on the top of the keyboard (like surface X) but maybe in a small groove so as the keyboard is also slightly lifted for more comfortable typing!
I will suggest a design of a keyboard with a “stiff” hinge like HP X2 where the keyboard lift the tablet slightly up. This can be just 5mm.
Or if we want a light keyboard (like surface X) that extra height can be 10mm, with a slot groove to fit the pen inside and close with magnets. When you do not use the pen it can be stored in there without obstructing anything. Then the keyboard can have two heights, one with the groove exposed and the keyboard flat and one with the keyboard at an edge height of 10mm and the groove closed.

For the pen (i don’t know if we have designs) but I think a slot shape is more ergonomic (like surface X) with dimensions of 5mm X 8mm ?

I know I am referring Surface X a lot but I think it has a nice design…